1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication terminal, such as a mobile phone. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of defining short keys used to select desired functions of the communication terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
A communication terminal usually includes a keypad, which consist of a plurality of alphanumeric keys and functional keys used to operate the terminal, and a display unit for displaying its operational state. For example, upon pressing a specific functional key to select a particular function, the display device displays an operational menu representing various functions for the user to select on the LCD screen. A common term, a short/hot key, is used when a user wishes to activate a particular key to cause the communication terminal to immediately perform a desired function or display desired menu items.
In a conventional mobile station, various hot keys are predefined by xe2x80x9c*xe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9c#xe2x80x9d, and navigation keys (up, down, left, and right keys) to initiate the respective desired functions. For example, a choice of alarm signal used to notify an incoming call may be selected between the normal ring mode or vibration mode by pressing a specific hot key predefined for that function. Accordingly, a mobile user may only use these types of hot keys to predefine most of their desired functions in the mobile terminal.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of defining a plurality of hot keys used to immediately initiate specific functions desired by the user in a communication terminal.
According to the present invention, a method of defining the hot keys used to immediately initiate the desired functions by the user in a communication terminal, comprises the steps of: displaying a plurality of main menu items in the hot key defining mode, displaying a plurality of sub-menu items corresponding to a particular main menu item selected by the user, selecting at least one of the sub-menu items by the user, displaying the keys used for the hot keys, and selecting one of the key as the hot key assigned to the at least one sub-menu.